Tempted By Scandal. Karen Booth

We were at the hospital fund-raiser I’d had a brutal day at work, the champagne was going down a little too easy, and Nadia...”

      Matt was struck with a powerful image of Nadia in the dress she’d worn—it hugged her full hips and dipped low in the front, the gentle swell of her breasts driving him crazy. Every man in the room had noticed—a normal occurrence, as Nadia was a singular beauty—but last night it was like she was lit from within. She could have gone home with any number of men—at least a dozen asked her to dance. But she dismissed them all and stayed by Matt’s side, making him laugh more than once and charming him with every flash of her eyes. Sure, he was her boss, but this had been a social affair. She wasn’t obligated to do anything but have fun. It had taken only one trip around the dance floor, his hand settled on the small of her back and hers on his shoulder, their bodies pressed together, before she asked the question, “Do you want to get out of here?”

      Liam waved his hand in front of Matt’s face. “You were saying? Nadia?”

      Matt needed to get his head out of the clouds. It wasn’t like him to let a woman have this kind of effect on him. “Nadia just has this way of picking up on what I’m thinking. She got me out of my bad mood.” Had she ever, although a few orgasms would do that to a guy. “Nobody else seems to care.”

      “I care. I just don’t need to sleep with you to prove it.”

      “Very funny.”

      “I hope you’re being careful. You don’t have the best track record with women.”

      Liam wasn’t wrong. Matt had a bad knack for short-lived relationships and sleeping with women with hidden agendas. His business, his personal fortune and his family made everything more complicated. His parents were always expressing their disapproval of his romantic life. “Just settle down” was a familiar refrain. “I know. I know.”

      “Don’t dismiss it like that. This retreat means as much to me as it does to you. I need the Sasha project to be a slam dunk. Is this really a good time for you to be in the tabloids?”

      “Look. I’m on it. Shayla is killing the story.”

      “It doesn’t matter. It’s already out there.”

      Matt’s appreciation of Liam’s honesty was losing its luster. “What about you and Teresa? Is your issue with her going to become a problem? I can’t pull another talented event planner out of my back pocket.”

      Liam’s nostrils flared. That was never a good sign. Matt knew Liam well enough to recognize just how angry he was. “Did she tell you what she did? Did she own up to it?”

      “No. She has no idea why you’re so angry with her. And frankly, it has me wondering what is going on with you.” Was the stress of Sasha getting to his best friend? Was it clouding his judgment?

      “She had an affair with my dad when she was his student. That was the final straw for my mom. Teresa St. Claire is the reason she and my dad got a divorce.”

      “What? Seriously?”

      Liam nodded solemnly. His relationship with his parents was complicated. His mother was a ball of anxiety and his father was notoriously detached. Like so many type A moguls, Linus Christopher was so focused on the bottom line that his family was of little consequence. “We both know my dad can be an idiot when it comes to interpersonal relationships, but as far as I know, he’d never cheated on my mom until Teresa came along. The fact that she’s pretending as if it doesn’t exist makes it so much worse.”

      “Are you positive they had an affair? Are you sure this isn’t a case of your mom overreacting?”

      “I know what you’re saying, but I saw it with my own two eyes. They were in each other’s arms in his office.”

      Matt could hardly believe what he was hearing. He didn’t know Teresa particularly well, but nothing about her suggested she’d behave in such a manner. “You two need to talk this out. It was a long time ago and maybe it’s time to bury the hatchet. Neither you nor I want a single thing to go wrong with this retreat. The Sasha announcement is hugely important to us both. Teresa does a top-notch job and more than anything, there’s no time to find someone else. I really think you need to hash this out.”

      Liam pressed his lips together firmly. His mind was always going. It was one of the things Matt really admired about his best friend. No stone went unturned. But he also knew it was Liam’s undoing. Overthinking never helped anything. “Fine. I’ll talk to her. But I’m not promising a thing.”